Saturday, January 11, 2014

Shia LaBeouf Announces Retirement Following 'Attacks On His ArtisticIntegrity'

Shia LaBeouf has announced that he's retiring following recent accusations that he plagiarized material for a short film he directed.

"In light of the recent attacks against my artistic integrity, I am retiring from all public life," the actor tweeted on Friday. "My love goes out to those who have supported me."

LaBeouf was accused of stealing material from Daniel Clowes' graphic novel "Justin M. Damiano" and using it for the basis of his own moive, "Howard Cantour," after which he acknowledged his mistake and attempted to apologize by hiring a plane to skywrite "I am sorry Daniel Clowes" in the Los Angeles sky.

"I f***ed up," he wrote in a December 17 series of tweets. "I deeply regret the manner in which these events have unfolded and want @danielclowes to know that I have a great respect for his work... I was truly moved by his piece of work & I knew that it would make a poignant & relevant short.

"I apologize to all who assumed I wrote it," he continued. "Im embarrassed that I failed to credit @danielclowes for his original graphic novella 'Justin M. Damiano,' which served as my inspiration. In my excitement and naiveté as an amateur filmmaker, I got lost in the creative process and neglected to follow proper accreditation... Copying isn't particularly creative work. Being inspired by someone else's idea to produce something new and different IS creative work."

The actor's apologies haven't sat well with Clowes though, and the writer's lawyers have now threatened legal action against LaBeouf and have issued a second cease and desist letter over the film.

Ironically (or intentionally), the actor's first apology was plagiarized from a Yahoo! Answers comment thread. About plagiarism.

LaBeouf also added a tweet with the hashtag "#stopcreating" following his retirement message, but unfortunately that backfired and he's been getting even more 'attacks against his artistic integrity.'